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Digital Makers

A programme to encourage and enable a generation of young people to create rather than just use technology.Show more

Why are we doing this?

Digital technologies touch every aspect of life and business – but relatively few people create them; most people just use them. We want to mobilise a generation of young people with the drive, confidence and know-how to make new technology – whether websites, apps, hardware, games or brand new innovations.

A campaign and website created by a group of like-minded organisations that want to inspire young people to be creators, not just consumers of digital technologies. We think that by working together we can make more noise and a bigger impact on the lives of young people so that every young person sees technology as a way to make new things and solve real problems.

The website is curated by a group of young tech ambassadors to give young people the support, advice, resources and tools needed to make the leap from being a digital consumer to a digital maker. Check out the projects in the Make Things section covering websites, games, apps or robotics.

The partners behind Make Things Do Stuff share a common set of values:

Digital technology is a tool to change the world, knowing how to harness it is a fundamental literacy for the 21st century.

We learn through making and sharing.

We work better together (This is an open movement. Collaboration and sharing are key to its success.)

Nesta and Nominet Trust in partnership with Mozilla and Autodesk are backing fourteen organisations with bright ideas for significantly increasing the number of young people who participate in digital making. These organisations receive a share of £520,000 – up to £50,000 each – and non-financial support to scale their projects and reach more young people.

Computing teacher Kate Farrell has been seconded to our team in Scotland to work on a range of digital making CPD support programmes for teachers at both primary and secondary school level. Between now and June 2014 you will see the following work take place in Scotland:

One Day Digital events (industry master classes on digital making) for teachers

Testing CPD support and new digital making lesson plans for teachers in a cluster of schools

Our partners

Creating a nation of Digital Makers

Codasign is supported by the Digital Makers Fund and specialises in delivering creative technology workshops for adults and children using open source tools. We believe digital technologies have the same creative potential as paint and canvas. Our workshops enable people with great ideas to use computers to express themselves and bring these ideas to life.

Digital making needs to be an everyday pastime for all young people if we want to foster a generation of digital creators - as unremarkable as playing sport, listening to music, reading books or playing computer games. Seeing it on Eastenders is a good place to start.

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Nesta is a registered charity in England and Wales 1144091 and Scotland SC042833. Our main address is 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE. You can reach us by phone on 020 7438 2500 or drop us a line at [email protected].